Reshma Saujani

Candidate for U.S. Representative, New York's 14th District

"I am a dedicated Democrat, a community activist, a Yale University legal scholar, and an attorney in New York City. But first and foremost, I am the daughter of political refugees whose story embodies the promise of life in America.

My parents, originally of Indian origin, barely escaped the brutal regime of Idi Amin in Uganda. Forced to flee during the government’s violent persecution of foreigners, my family lost everything. But amnesty in America gave them a chance to rebuild. A highly qualified mechanical engineer, my father found work in a machine shop. My mother was pregnant – arriving in a new country with little money, our family couldn’t afford medical treatment. My sister was born at a local hospital supported by Catholic Charities, and my father still describes the free care my family received as a miracle.

My parents worked hard to build a new life in suburban Chicago. One of the first Indian families in my neighborhood, I distinctly remember the discrimination we experienced and the teasing I endured. As a freshman at the local public high school, I started PRISM – the Prejudice Reduction Interested Students Movement – and organized a rally to educate our community about the importance of diversity. It was a defining moment in my life that sparked my commitment and dedication to community activism.

Student loans gave me the opportunity to pursue a college education and to continue to find my political voice. As an undergraduate at the University of Illinois, I organized voters against the Republican Contract with America in 1994, and volunteered for the Clinton-Gore Campaign in 1996. As the graduation speaker and recipient of the highest academic honor at the University of Illinois, I continued my studies at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, where I worked part-time to pay for school. After earning my Masters in Public Policy, I traveled to South Africa, where I helped the National Democratic Institute support the post-apartheid government of Nelson Mandela.

When I returned to the US, I was determined to follow the advice of my mentor Judge A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr. to use the law to fight for justice for all Americans. At Yale Law School, I worked extensively on issues of equal opportunity. A product of the public school system, I was proud to teach constitutional law to high school students in New Haven through a Yale legal clinic.

After graduating from Yale with a mountain of debt from two postgraduate degrees, I joined the prestigious firm Davis Polk & Wardwell. Despite the demands of my job, I was determined to use my legal skills to continue my activism. The loss of rights and freedom my family suffered in Uganda reminded me every day of why I was obligated to fight for those who were under-represented. As an attorney, I volunteered pro bono on social justice cases, including asylum cases to ensure legal representation for the most vulnerable defendants. After the enactment of the Patriot Act, I volunteered with the New York Bar Association to offer free legal services to documented immigrants in Queens. I painfully witnessed innocent New Yorkers having their civil liberties being violated day after day. This experience emboldened me to build a national movement within the Democratic Party to encourage South Asian Americans to get involved in the political process.

In 2008, I became the Deputy General Counsel of the Liquid Markets business at Fortress Investment Group. Over the past two years, I’ve become increasingly frustrated by the short-sighted policies of the government and the financial services industry that have left hundreds of thousands of people unemployed and struggling to find work across New York City. I realized that I could be most effective in bringing about reform by using my expertise to help the public sector solve the complicated issues that plague Wall Street. That’s why I recently resigned my job at Fortress to fight full-time for the jobs of everyday New Yorkers. Now is the time to dedicate myself to public service, and to use my deep understanding of the financial industry to give voice to those who have been overlooked and forgotten during the economic downturn."